Even in a famine, there's no panic; the eldest sister has stockpiled plenty of money and grain.

Jiang Bai ran almost the entire way, much faster than during the day.

Pingshan covers a vast area and borders several surrounding villages.

Qianshan Village is one of them.

Wild boar has a strong smell, and if they were to process it at their home, it would inevitably be discovered. They haven't even dealt with the large family at the old house yet, and she doesn't want to cause any more trouble.

Unfortunately, after she arrived here, she didn't have many people she could even call acquaintances.

In comparison, Ji Yanwen is the best choice among acquaintances.

She moved nimbly, like a nimble monkey, and after walking quickly for a while, she would stop and listen quietly to the sounds in the mountains to prevent herself from wandering into the territory of other wild animals.

Fortunately, apart from the occasional slithering snake, they did not encounter any other wild animals along the way.

When they arrived at the location, they moved the stones blocking the cave entrance, and found several wild boars still lying safely inside.

The wild boars were too big; even though she was quite strong, she could only move one at a time.

If there's an extra end, it will slide down.

She picked up a wild boar and retraced her steps.

When they arrived at Ji Yanwen's house, he had already filled the water vat with water, and the water in the pot had long been boiling.

Do you know how to handle wild boar?

Jiang Bai asked him.

"will not."

"Okay, then I'll teach you."

Jiang Bai took the knife and made an incision to bleed out, only some stagnant blood flowing out.

They skillfully scalded and shaved the skin.

Her movements were fluid and graceful, as if she had done them countless times, which made Ji Yanwen look at her repeatedly, his eyes full of curiosity.

When she looked up at him, her eyes immediately became clear but with a hint of foolishness.

"Have you learned it?"

"I...I should be able to." Ji Yanwen nodded uncertainly.

"Then you can help clean these drains too, and I'll go move the other ones."

Jiang Bai glanced at the sky and went out again, leaving Ji Yanwen with a blank expression.

The stench of the sewage kept assaulting his nostrils. He tried to resist, but couldn't take it anymore. He covered his mouth and nose with the cloth he had torn off last time before he began to wash.

The wages for helping out should be at least two hundred copper coins.

He thought viciously to himself.

On the other side, Jiang Bai, familiar with the process, moved down another one and handed it to Ji Yanwen to handle, then went to move the rest.

Once the other two ends have been moved back, the moon will be hanging in the center of the sky, and if there were a clock, it would be ringing with a "dong dong dong" sound.

Jiang Bai was processing the wild boar meat while reminiscing.

While moving the last wild boar, she slipped and fell down, only to discover that the bottom of the boar's den seemed to be empty.

I wonder what secrets are hidden inside?

With help, the wild boar was dealt with much faster. The most troublesome part of dealing with wild boar was dealing with its offal.

These days, it's good enough to have some meat to eat; even offal is in demand.

Besides, Jiang Bai had other plans.

As dawn broke and it was almost daylight, Jiang Bai finally carried the cleaned wild boar meat into Ji Yanwen's room. Ji Yanwen tried to help several times, but couldn't get a chance to do so.

Large patches of grass covered the ground, and the entrails from the four wild boars had been cleaned and placed in an empty vat in the kitchen. To prevent them from smelling bad, the entrails had been blanched. The huge vat was quite impressive.

Ji Yanwen had spent the whole night helping to boil water and clean the pig's offal. Now that he was done, his face was pale, his legs were weak, and he was completely exhausted.

What are your plans regarding this pork?

Looking at the pile of pork halves stacked high, Jiang Bai felt a headache coming on for no apparent reason.

Perhaps Pingshan is relatively friendly to wild animals, because these four wild boars were all adults. Even after their internal organs were removed, each wild boar still weighed at least 160 or 170 pounds.

"First, take it to town and see if any restaurants will buy it. If not, we'll have to spend some time selling the loose meat. We can sell some to buy salt. Even if we can't sell it all, we can still marinate and smoke it and store it away."

"In that case, I do have a suggestion."

Seeing Jiang Bai looking at him, Ji Yanwen continued, "I heard that the old lady of the Chen family is having a big birthday celebration tomorrow, and she has just announced that she wants to collect some wild game. Why don't we take this wild boar meat to the Chen family and give it a try?"

"Chen family?"

"That's right, it's the Chen family in the county town. By the way, I heard that Ji Laoliu's wife used to be a maid in the Chen family."

Such a coincidence?

"Then let's try the Chen family."

"Besides the Chen family, do you know any other places where people can eat these wild boars?"

This way, if the Chen family doesn't need that much, they'll have other options.

"Besides the Chen family, we can also try Zuichunlou."

Ji Yanwen looked at the tank of wastewater: "Are we taking all this wastewater with us? Although the Chen family and Zuichunlou won't want this stuff, it's cheaper, so some people should still buy it to eat at home."

"No need, I have other plans."

Pork is hard to sell, and selling offal raw is just as difficult. It's better to process it again and get rid of it as soon as possible.

Ji Yanwen's family was extremely poor and didn't have anything as precious as a cart. So they took advantage of the night to travel to the county and rented one after the city gates opened.

Fortunately, the pork had already been moved to the grove of trees beside the official road. The meat was placed on a cart, and it could be pulled away easily.

This place is some distance from Qianshan Village, and there were no villagers working around.

The official road was rugged and uneven. Ji Yanwen originally thought that he would pull the cart and Jiang Bai would just help push it from behind. But he overestimated himself.

Four wild boars, weighing several hundred pounds, were too heavy for him to move an inch.

"Haha, let me do it. Scholar Ji, your slender frame isn't up to the task."

Jiang Bai was overjoyed. He hoisted the shoulder strap and, while not exactly as fast as lightning, moved with ease.

Ji Yanwen's face turned green.

Who is actually the smaller one?

Compared to Jiang Bai's petite and delicate figure, he was already quite tall and strong, but unfortunately, he was just a shell and couldn't match her strength at all. He could only pretend to help push the cart from behind.

In fact, even without him pushing the cart, Jiang Bai could pull it perfectly well.

About half an hour later, we finally saw the city gate of An'nan County.

The officers inspected the contents of the cart and made the two men pay the entrance fee under the gate before letting them into the city.

The Chen family was a prominent family in Nan'an County, and Ji Yanwen had already studied in the county town, so the two of them soon arrived at the side gate of the Chen residence.

With its blue bricks and green tiles, the Chen residence is magnificent and spacious, and the house itself is exquisite.

Everywhere you look, you can tell that they are rich.

"Half of the shops in Nan'an County belong to the Chen family."

Merchants here are not exempt from taking the imperial examinations, but there is a quota limit: a merchant can only have one imperial examination quota within three clans.

If any member of one of the three clans becomes an official, then no member of that clan may participate in the imperial examinations.

Within the three clans of the Chen family, there happened to be one person serving as an official in the imperial court, specifically a high-ranking official in the capital.

Ji Yanwen surveyed the Chen residence, his eyes darkening slightly.

He didn't tell Jiang Bai this information, so when Jiang Bai heard it, he was only surprised: "So, the Chen family is the richest family in Nan'an County?"

"That's right."

Ji Yanwen nodded.

They knocked on the side gate, explained their purpose to the old woman guarding it, and slipped her ten copper coins. The old woman glanced at the meat they had prepared, confirmed it was wild boar, then gave them a haughty look, closed the side gate, and left only the words, "Wait."